Will Cell Phones Save Newspapers?

Currently about 4,000 newspapers and 140 publishers are running mobile websites through Verve Wireless, according to a story in the New York Times.The newspapers on board include the Associated Press, McClatchy and theNew York Times Regional Media Group. The NY Times and AP have also created iPhone applications available for free through the App Store.

Art Howe, Verve's chief executive who's incidentally a formerPulitzer-prize winning reporter and owner of 50 local newspapers, believes mobile browsing is the ideal platform for local papers. Sounds about right, since we tend to use mobile browsing when we're running around in the neighborhood. The NY Times article adds that creating a mobile version of a web site increases its traffic by 13 percent.

I trust a man who's worked in a newsroom knows what he's doing, but I can't help but feel a little skeptical. Whether it's a web site or mobile web site, is technology enough to rectify the problem inherent in newspaper media? Mobile browsing would address content delivery, but what about quality of the content itself?

I hear horror stories from colleagues working at local newspapers about shockingly meager salaries, unreasonably large workloads and surprise layoffs. Treat your employees poorly and it has a direct impact on the content they produce.Fire your employees and, obviously, you have less content. It's as simple as that.We'll have to wait and see if mobile web sites will give newspapers a big enough boost so they can stop giving their employees the axe.